Calling Mr. Ironside a seasoned actor would fall far short off the mark.
His genre work alone is impressive, having propelled him to the rank of cult actor.
Heres how our chat with the mighty Mr Ironside went…
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Can you tell us a bit more about your role inTurbo Kid?
I actually met the producer and the directors at the Toronto film festival two and a half years ago.
I was with Claudio Luca [founder of Cine Tele Action International], who works here in Montreal.
We were on our way somewhere else.
We dropped in there, and they came up to us and started to talk to me.
Anne-Marie Gelinas [the producer], I had heard of, but I had never met her.
I think she is an incredible woman.
I gotta let you know, I dont do these interviews unless I care about something.
Ive been doing it too long.
I dont blow smoke up peoples ass.
It just doesnt make any sense.
Anne-Marie is a first class producer.
She is very passionate about what she does.
I met the directors.
They are very funny.
I said, All right.
Let me read the script.
Thats where we started.
So I read the script.
I liked it a lot.
I get about three or four jobs offered to me a week.
This one was different.
I choose now based on the writing, first.
I like to work.
So we met on Skype.
I think I was in Belgrade, or something, and we got along very well.
What I was comfortable most with them was their ability to say no to me.
And I dont mean like Im a bully.
And they would say, no, no, no, no, no!
THIS is what we want to do.
We cant do that, and I would know they were in charge.
Theyre not afraid to say no.
I hope to work with them again.
Is your character Zeus a bit of a salute to your previous characters?
This is tongue-in-cheek, on purpose.
All the little things we were doing in the film without going over the edge.
A lot of the situations are just basically walking to a scene, sit down, and start talking.
Because we didnt have enough money or time to do it more complicated.
I think youll enjoy the film.
I wish we had time to talk about everything else youve done in genre cinema.
Do you have a special interest for sci-fi and other genre films?
My grandfather spoke seven languages.
He was a chemical and electrical engineer.
He was born in Scotland.
He came from a very wealthy family.
He was a remittance man.
It broke his heart.
But he was very well read, and he was part of the original science fiction club with Heinlein.
All those publications that would become magazines, they were [at first] private letters.
He built one of the first tube radios in Canada.
He was a little wee Scotsman, a real pain in the ass, but I loved him dearly.
So, he introduced me to science fiction very early.
I was just a kid.
My brother still has [theDunedraft].
So you were one of the first people to readDune?
My grandfather was part of that society.
There were about a hundred of them, Frank Herbert, Heinlein, Asimov.
I remember when my dad passed away; I found boxes of old sci-fi magazines.
So I grew up reading things like van VogtsSlan.
These are the things I read when I was eleven, twelve and thirteen years old.
It had a very big impact on me.
A lot of movies are being rebooted right now…
I think thats because of a lack of imagination.
So, where do they come from?
They come from financing and advertising.
They would refute that, but thats why we get remakes of remakes of remakes…
They remadeTotal Recall, andV, and now theyre talking about remakingStarship Troopers…
Remakes?
[whistles and makes the gesture of a plane crashing down].
How do you make something without Paul Verhoeven?
Yeah, we can do this, and [they] blow it all out of shape.
What if Europe was run by the Nazis, and North America was this isolated place?
The connection said they couldnt do that.
So they made them all aliens, and the idea of the dust and the virus, thats propaganda.
The original script that I saw was a political drama.
They asked me to be a part of the new show and I said no.
What if they were to finish the story with the old cast?
It would be great if they were to do that withV.
My decisions are based on the writing.
If the writing is good, then I ask who is involved.
With television, especially with data pipe television, its all kind of inflexible.
More is being done in non-web connection television.
It was recently announced that you are going to be onThe Flashnext season.
Can you tell me a little bit about your role?
I just got it.
We talked about going in, and I said I never have any time.
So one of them called me and said, we have Captain Colds father.
I asked, has anyone ever seen him?
And he said, not really.
So Im going to Vancouver to do that.
I like the producers, and the show as well.
And two of my favourite golf courses are in Vancouver.
You know, for four hours, nobody can touch you.
Thats how I picked my manager, my accountant, and my lawyer.
You want him to represent you?
You get someone who hits a bad shot and who goes how can I correct that?
Do you have any ideas?
Thats the guy I hire.
But also, I work all the time.
I dont take big vacations.
Sometimes, a golf game is the only thing I get.
What are your next projects, or what havent you done yet that you would love to do?
See my daughters get married someday, both of them.
I just finished a film calledThe Space Between.
A wonderfully written, directed and acted film by Amy Jo Johnson [Flashpoint/Mighty Morphin Power Rangers].
An incredible script about a family in turmoil.
I play the father.
Im taking the job because my daughter read it and said what are you afraid of?
And I said, what?
And she said, youre gonna pass on this.
And shes only sixteen…
After that I go up to doThe Flash.
And then I go to Europe to do the Tokyo War Trials not Nuremberg, the Japanese side.
Theyre using the courthouses in Lithuanias Estonia.
They were built by the same architect who built the ones in Japan.
This is a Japanese, French, Canadian and English co-production.
They asked me to play Douglas MacArthur.
I have to lose 40 pounds I got two months [laughter].
I may be directing.
I have been avoiding it for years.
I wrote a script about the Punjab rebellion in India.
I had never been in India before I wrote it, but I love it.
I read all the Kipling books as a kid.
Its an interesting script I wrote almost 30 years ago calledPassport India.
I get on the plane, and I was so hungover.
I was bleeding from the eyes.
And I went, no, maam.
She pulled out a little flask and said, Are you sure you wouldnt like some tea?
And I went, Oh, yes!
I want some tea [laughter].
She said, put something together and show me.
I asked why she was telling me this.
She said, that was my mothers, and she showed me the stamp around her neck.
She had just been to India.
So it was given to me, and I wrote it.
I got it financed once in the nineties, with this Indian-British company.
And I went, there is no leading lady in this story.
They had ninety days to raise the money.
Then Pakistan fired some shells, I think, across the border, that weekend.
Everything was put on hold and their option lapsed.
The film didnt get made and I got the rights back.
I am terrified of making this film unless I have control.
And she said, No.
Why do you think?
Just change my name like.
And she signed over the rights.
So Ive been sitting on it for 25 years.
So were thinking of shooting it in Southern India sometime next year.
So its definitely on?
Its definitely on, but I dont trust anything till its in the can [laughter].
The working title isPassport India.
Michael Ironside, thank you very much!
